Chapter 72: Another vision from Kynareth
[28th – 30th of Sun's Dusk 4E 202]
When T'mara woke up from her trance next to the shrine of Kynareth, she needed a few minutes to find back to reality, and she slowly told us:
"Kynareth spoke to me again."
I was not really surprised, recalling our previous adventure with Kyne, but my uncle asked curiously:
"Again? You were in contact with her before?"
My wife nodded, and I explained:
"Not so long ago we followed a request from Kynareth in Skyrim, and that's actually how we found our Yumi, too."
Yumi was happy to add a few words of her own:
"Right, that was when I was on a ship which stranded, and bandits killed everyone, including my last remaining relatives. I managed to hide, and I was found by Papa and Mama. They told me later that they'd been on a mission for Kynareth, and I am very happy that they found and adopted me. Kynareth must be good because she saved me."
The girl had a point, and T'mara now elaborated:
"Kyne spoke to me again, and she told me that a group of hunters are moving around her 'Grove of Trials'. Rather than honoring the peace around that place, they start to hunt the bears deers and refuse to listen to Kynareth, who has asked them to keep peace and hunt elsewhere. She asks us to remind the hunters and make them leave, peacefully if possible."
"Okay, so we should do that, I guess" I replied without hesitation.
Valdimar and Uncle Valerius offered to take the two girls back to the house, and T'mara, Deborah, Iona and I quickly proceeded in westerly direction; Kynareth had marked the spot on our map. The immediate area around the shrine was mostly grass and bushes and only a few single trees, but soon we stepped right into the extensive forest which covered most of the area inside the triangle formed by the Imperial City in the east, Choroll in the northwest, and Skingrad in the southwest; it was a large section of what was called the 'Great Forest'. The forest sported white-barked aspen trees, redwoods, and various other evergreen and broad-leaf trees; the ground cover was mostly ferns, bushes, and various thatches of dark green grass. In some sections the trees kept some distance from each other, and in others they were so close that visibility was severely impacted.
While proceeding towards our target, we also encountered various animals, mostly squirrels, rats, and deer, and plenty of mushrooms could be fond all around, such as Cinnabar Polypores, Clouded Funnel Cap, Fly Amanita, Green Stain Cup, Steel-Blue Entoloma, and Summer Bolete. Flowers, like Flax, Lady's Mantle, Monkshood, Motherwort, Somnalius Plant, St. Jahn's Wort, Tiger Lily, and others, were seen in many places, too. Close to one big tree stump a bear mother played with her two cubs, and we made sure to keep our distance to not antagonize them.
Just before reaching the glade, we encountered the first group of hunters; they had bows and arrows visible, and they were obviously looking for game. We approached them and calmly explained that this was Kyne՚s scared ground and they had to leave and hunt somewhere else. At first they refused to comply, but then Kyne spoke from the air, and this made them understand and leave the region.
"Let's hope that our task stays that easy" Deborah mentioned.
On the other side of the glade another group of hunters, eight or nine in total, had already slain one of the bears and were about to kill two more. We shouted for them to stop, but the party's leader just taunted us:
"You are you to make us stop hunting? This is our prey!"
We briefly explained again that this was Kyne՚s sacred place, and once more Kynareth՚s voice spoke from the sky to emphasize the point. While some of his team seemed to be impressed and were obviously ready to leave, the leader replied in a commanding tone:
"This is our prey, and we are not going to be stopped by a disembodied voice, divine or not – you better leave now, or we will kill you, too!"
The fight was on, I guessed. While the leader unsheathed his sword and three more of his party drew their weapons, T'mara tried to discourage them by shouting 'FUS RO DAH', which blew the entire group back. Those few who had been ready to leave earlier slowly retreated, but most of the group just swallowed potions of healing and now attacked seriously, so that we did not have a choice any longer. Deborah started to blow fireballs upon them, Pammy ran forward, Iona had her sword out, and I jumped on a rock and operated my crossbow.
The fight was over quite soon, with the hunter group leader escaped and two others badly injured, while the rest of the group surrendered. Normally, in Skyrim at least, when a bandit shouted 'I yield!', you'd better expect to be attacked again once you sheathed your weapon. Here, around the 'Grove of Trials' and under the influence of Kynareth, they actually meant it. We healed the two wounded hunters, and the group, minus their former leader and those who had retreated earlier, promised to leave in peace and not hunt here again; some of them even wanted to go to the shrine and apologize to the Divine. One of them told us:
"Some of us believed this to be a bad idea, hunting here, specifically when he had heard the voice of Kynareth, warning us about it. Our leader, though, talked us into ignoring the voice, and we were stupid enough to comply."
With those words we allowed them to leave, and we made sure that none of them was around any longer. However, the quest was not over, as T'mara told me:
"We need to find the leader, who has fled. He is injured, but he needs to pay for his crime. Kynareth will guide us to his hideout."
"Okay, so where do we go?"
"There is a ruin southwest of us, 'Fort Wooden Hand'. He will be found there, together with some more bandits and marauders. We will need to go there at once."
I did not like that much, as I would have preferred to spend some time in this sacred place. A few of the bears were still around, and they showed no signs of aggression at all. But, alas, duty called once again.
The distance was not large at all, and we arrived at the fort less than half an hour later; it was located right in the forest. A couple of bandits were patrolling outside, and after we had briefly discussed our options, we decided to kill them right on the spot rather than risk having them alert everybody inside. Next we made sure that the outer fortifications were cleared, including the higher floors. On the ground close the entrance we found a few isolated corn, lettuce, tomato, and radish plants, indicating that somebody had a hand for growing vegetables, too.
When we entered the interior of the fort itself, we came upon three more marauders who had some kind of camp with bedrolls, a fireplace, and a few chests close to the entrance. They attacked us without warning, and we killed them quickly. In an adjacent room a small wood elf cowered in a corner and he her face covered. She did not look like a bandit, and when we approached her, she begged us not to kill her. She claimed to be the gardener and a captive. We suggested that she stay here until we had the interior cleared.
From here on I had Pammy scout ahead, and we proceeded deeper into the passages, fighting off a few rats and more marauders. Eventually we came upon a sturdy looking door which apparently lead into the next section; the door was suspiciously not locked, and we proceeded with care, until a short passage opened up into a larger room. There was a throne at the back of the room, and the hunter group leader sat on it, tending his injuries from the earlier fight. He was flanked by two other people, a marauder warlord on his left and a marauder battlemage on his right; both of them wore complete sets of heavy armor. They noticed us, and the person on the throne spoke:
"So, you have followed me here? This will be the last mistake you have ever made. Before you die, let it be known that the 'Grey Badger' will not tolerate any interference!"
When he had ended, the battlemage blasted a powerful spell in our direction, and I barely had time to erect my best ward to deflect it. The warlord jumped forward, but was intercepted by Pammy, who had not been seen by the enemies initially; she and Iona took care of him. The battlemage was standing right next to the leader, and T'mara used the opportunity to shout 'YOL TOOR SHUL' right at them, which wounded both the battlemage and the warlord. The battlemage stopped blasting away and started to heal himself, but before he made much progress, I had my greatsword out, jumped forward, and cut his head off. The hunter group leader jumped off the throne just before I could reach him, and we ran around the throne a few times chasing each other. However, after two or three rounds he was hit by a strong fireblast from my sister and stopped, which enabled me to run my sword through his body from behind.
He uttered "The 'Grey Badger' will revenge me" before he died. Pammy and Iona had dealt with the warlord, so that we had won this battle and could take a few deep breaths again. I looked at my wife and asked her:
"Do you know who or what this 'Grey Badger' might be?"
"No, not at all."
"You know," Deborah suggested, "during the Oblivion crisis, there was a mysterious person called the 'Grey Fox', master of the Thieves Guild. He was supposed to be practically invisible, and he hid behind a mask making it impossible to identify him or her. However, he tried to avoid killing people and focused on stealth. Maybe this is something similar?"
T'mara just shrugged her shoulders and pointed out a chest I had not seen so far. Besides some loot there was a letter inside:
Go to the 'Grove of Trials' and hunt the bears; kill them all, and stop everybody who might want to interfere. Ignore the voice in the air; a disembodied voice cannot hurt you. When you are done, come back to 'Fort Wooden Hand' for your reward.
The Grey Badger
This term again. It appeared that there was a mystery, and maybe we could learn more about it in the future. For now, we looked around to make sure we did not miss anything, and there actually was a small strongbox in a niche behind the throne where the leader had been sitting. It was locked with a master lock, but my wife's nimble paws got busy and had the strongbox opened after breaking only a small number of lockpicks. Inside, we found a few small gems and a nicely crafted golden ring with a few engravings. The ring looked vaguely familiar, and I collected it together with the gems.
Once we had made sure to check all passages and sections in the fort, we went back to the entrance area and told the wood elf that shew as free to go now; then we stepped outside and walked back towards the glade. A couple of Kyne՚s peaceful bears escorted us to the center of the glade, and the stone door leading into 'Kynareth՚s Grotto' opened by itself. T'mara and I cautiously stepped inside, while Iona and Deborah stood watch outside.
A short flight of stairs lead down, and after following a short passage we came upon an altar, with a Shrine of Kynareth of course. The altar was flanked by a few flax plants and fungi as well as by two spriggans, peacefully awaiting us. When we prayed at the shrine, a light came down on my wife, and when it was gone again, she told me proudly that Kynareth had told her the second part of the 'Kyne՚s peace' shout, so that the effect had a greater range and lasted longer.
"So," I joked, "as the shout has a third word, may we expect that you will be asked for yet another favor at some time in future?"
Rather than laughing, T'mara just nodded:
"Actually, yes, this is what I am to expect. It is not certain when and how, but I got the feeling that this may come, indeed."
We stepped out of the grotto and slowly walked back to Red Rose Manor, first through the forest and later through some grass and bushed. The others had had lunch already and were now eagerly waiting for us. While Deborah and Iona went into the kitchen to find something to eat, T'mara and I were not hungry and rather decided to relax in the underground pool. As the others were busy in the kitchen and spending time in the garden, we had the pool to ourselves, and naturally the relaxing turned into an intense make out session. After we had made love, we did relax, though, for an hour or two, enjoying the nice warm water and each other, and we just managed to get upstairs again for dinner.
When the sun was going down, we all stepped outside for a moment to watch the sunset, and the sky had a nice red color when the sun vanished below the horizon, close to the silhouette of the Imperial City.
When Yumi and Lucia had gone to bed, we adults sat together in the main hall and discussed the events of the day. Specifically, I asked my uncle if he had ever heard about the 'Grey Badger'.
He nodded and started to tell us:
"Indeed, there have been some rumors about a person with that name lately. Some of you may know that there had been a 'Grey Fox' about two hundred and more years ago, before and during the Oblivion crisis. There are some hints in the family diaries that our ancestor, the Hero of Kvatch, may even had some contacts to them, but it appears that he was quite careful to not write down any details. Anyway, a few years after the start of the fourth era, nothing was heard from and about the 'Grey Fox' again, and the activities of the Thieves Guild at that time diminished. Some people claim that they sometimes stole from the rich and gave to the poor, but anyway the guild was not a real problem any longer."
Iona cut in: "I am from Skyrim, and I do not know much about the guilds in Cyrodiil. Who is or was the 'Grey Fox'?"
My sister Deborah elaborated: "The Grey Fox was the leader of the Thieves Guild for many centuries. Actually, it is assumed that there was a succession of people with that title, all inheriting and using a special mask which allowed the leader to hide and stay unrecognized. The Grey Fox was rumored to be a very capable thief, and once they even manged to steal an Elder Scroll right from the White-Gold tower, or at least this is what rumors claim. Similar to the Thieves Guild in Skyrim, they usually tried not to kill people, if possible."
Iona nodded, and Uncle Valerius continued: "In the last few years, stealing activities have been more frequent again, and the name 'Grey Badger' has been heard. We do not know yet who or what that is, but the guards are more careful again and watch out more. Sadly, even our family home in Kvatch was robbed a few months ago, and a few valuables were taken."
I took the opportunity to get the badge – the one we had found in the fort where the bandits attacking Jarl Balgruuf՚s party had been hiding – out of my pocket and placed in on the table. My uncle looked at it, picked it up, and shouted:
"This is our 'Badge of Courage! Where did you get it from? This is one of the items stolen from our family home in Kvatch!"
I explained how we had found it in loot in Skyrim, and Uncle Valerius looked concerned:
"This is not good. Either it got to Skyrim by accident or the thieves have an organization and network which is larger than we thought."
"Who is 'we', and how are you involved? You seem to know quite a lot about those things, don't you?" my wife mentioned.
"Oh, well," my uncle replied, "yes, it appears that I actually do. I have a good friend in the Imperial City. He is a captain of the guard, and his name is Claudius Lex. One of his ancestors, Hieronymus Lex, was in the guard when the Grey Fox was active, and Hieronymus had spent quite a lot of his time investigating the guild's activities, without much success, though. Right when he thought that he was close to finding the Grey Fox, he was mysteriously reassigned to Anvil, and from there he could not really pursue his interests any longer. Claudius kind of inherited the obsession from his ancestor, or more like a hobby, actually, and sometimes the two of us sit together and we exchange information. He has got access to all ind of official sources, where I have some people talking to me unofficially, if you know what I mean."
"So, do we know where this group of people is active?" Deborah asked.
Uncle Valerius responded: "Judged by what we have seen and heard so far, they appear to be all over Cyrodiil. Considering that Tim found the 'Badge of Courage' in Skyrim, they may even be active in other provinces, or at least have contacts there."
"And, judged by the letter from that strange person," Iona added, "they seem to not care about the Nine Divines and even mock them."
"Which may eventually be the group's downfall" I concluded. At this time I recalled the golden ring I had picked up from the strongbox in the fort and put it on the table. My uncle looked at it and asked:
"Where did you find that one?"
My wife explained, and Uncle Valerius told us:
"This ring happens to be the very special 'Rumare Jewel'. It was given to the Hero of Kvatch after helping a Breton fisherman in Weye by collecting slaughterfish scales. It is enchanted and allows the wearer to breathe in water for an extended period of time. In the last decades, the ring has been in my possession, and it was stolen a few weeks ago. I am glad to have it back. Thank you for finding it!"
At that time we decided to call it a day and get to bed; it had been quite an interesting day, and we would stay here in Red Rose Manor for another day and more talking for sure.
The girls wanted to play outside on the next morning after breakfast, and Iona and Valdimar lead them into the garden for some games and exploration. Deborah, Uncle Valerius, my wife and I talked more about the house and our lives, right until lunch, superbly cooked by my uncle's Argonian maid. The kids and our housecarls were back right in time for eating, and Yumi excitedly told us:
"We went down to the shore and picked water flowers!"
Valdimar explained that they had gone down to 'Fort Fanasecul' and explore the outer ruins and the lake shore a little, picking some lotus and water hyacinth plants; they had also found a couple of chests with minor treasure. I took the opportunity to explain that the plants they had picked could be mixed with other ingredients to create some potions and poisons; the girls needed to learn about alchemy sooner or later and how this could help to boost one's own capabilities or increase damage inflicted upon enemies.
Consequently, we spent half an hour in the manor's basement after lunch and did some alchemy experiments together there, using some common ingredients from flowers and plants around the house, and we allowed the two girls to do some of the grounding and mixing in their own. Specifically, Deborah pointed out that there were a few plant extracts which could, properly mixed and combined, boost and restore one's health. When Lucia asked which ones those were, Deborah elaborated:
"For a health boost, which can be critical in fights or when being attacked by wild animals, one can use meat from a boar or a deer or elk, mixed with extracts from either Lady's Mantle leaves or Aloe Vera Leaves. For the first three, the health effect is a first level one, so that even alchemist rookies can use that. Want to try? We have all of the supplies here."
Lucia volunteered to start, and after a few failed attempts she managed to mix the ingredients properly and had her own simple health restoration potion. Yumi also tried, but she was finding alchemy tedious and obviously had trouble with it.
"In Skyrim, getting suitable ingredients for health restoration is even easier" I added. "All you need is some wheat and the blue mountain flowers, or the wings from a monarch butterfly."
"I don't want to catch and kill the beautiful butterflies!" Lucia exclaimed.
"Well, then you just stick with the flowers, I guess."
Yumi had a question: "In Skyrim, I know that a lot of farms grow wheat, but this is made into food, isn't it, papa?"
"Indeed it is, daughter" I replied. "Around Whiterun, for instance, we have three major farms: The Pelagia farm in the south, and the Chillfurrow farm and the Battle-Born farm in the east. Specifically the two latter one grow a lot of wheat, and the mills ground the wheat into flour for bread and other food. During harvesting time, the farmers are always happy to get additional help, and when you help them for a few hours, they are more than happy let you go with some of the wheat for alchemy; potions only require small amounts anyway."
When we were done with our first small alchemy trails for the girls, Deborah asked them if they had ever tried themselves in magic, and both of them shook their heads. I was a little concerned and asked my sister:
"Aren't Lucia and Yumi a little young for magic?"
"Nonsense! One cannot start early enough. And, of course, I am not going to teach them necromancy or something like this."
Yumi beamed: "I would love to learn some magic!"
"See? Let's go outside and see how far we get."
T'mara and Deborah took the girls outside, and through one of the windows we could see them practicing. It was generally assumed that everybody had a natural capability to do magic, but the magicka reservoir was different. For some, the initial supply was not even enough for the most simple novice spells, whereas others had a more generous amount to start with. Of course, there were some people who despised magic of any kind, like some Nords, but our two girls seemed to be willing to give it a try.
When we sat together for dinner in the dark main hall later on, only lit by the fireplace and some candles, Iona sighed and said:
"Sometimes I wish we had proper light at night, you know."
Yumi smiled, raised her hands, and cast a light spell. It was just a basic candlelight, hovering over her head, and it did not last long, but at least it was there. The girl told Iona:
"I can help with that a little, you see. Aunt Deborah told me that I may eventually be able to cast a stronger and longer lasting light later on, if I practice a lot."
Iona happened to be one of those Nords who were not particularly fond of magic, but she was clearly impressed:
"You learned that today?"
Yumi nodded, so that her pigtails swung up and down:
"Yes, Aunt Deborah taught me. I like magic, and I am going to practice diligently."
Iona replied: "Well, if you learned that just within an hour or two, then keep on, I guess. Maybe I should keep you around to enlighten my nights!"
"I will certainly be available for that, Iona!"
We laughed, and I was happy that Yumi liked to learn magic. Lucia had had some trouble with it, and she seemed to be better suited for alchemy, which was not so much liked by Yumi.
We stayed for another day, and Yumi spent more hours with Deborah on magic training. At the end of that day, she proudly showed us that she was now able to conjure a familiar, which turned out to be a nice dog for her, a small whelp. Somehow Yumi had learned that the breed was called a 'Newfoundland'; it had black fur, seemed to be well suited for the cold climate of Skyrim, and Yumi called the dog 'Newton'. For now, the puppy was still very small and fit into Yumi՚s two hands, but it was probably going to grow like my Pammy had done.
I used the opportunity to tell Yumi about Pammy՚s early days:
"Yumi, you have seen my Pammy, but do you know who big she was when I conjured her for the first time?"
"No, I do not – was she different?"
"Indeed she was; she started as a small whelp, not much bigger than your Newton, but that was more than ten years ago. I have frequently summoned her, and eventually she started to grow, and she stayed with me for a longer time, too."
"Does this mean that my familiar will grow, too, like a real dog?"
Deborah nodded: "Yes, most likely it will, if you continue to summon it on a regular basis. Doing that frequently, together with your candlelight spell, will also increase your magicka pool and your skills in conjuration and alteration."
"Cool! I will start practicing right away!"
"But do not overdo it" Deborah warned. "When your magicka pool is drained, you will need to wait for some time to regenerate it."
"Aren't there some potions to help with that?" Lucia asked.
"Yes, indeed" I confirmed. "We can teach you to create those potions as well, at some later time."
Lucia beamed and stated that she would definitely want to learn about that, specifically to be able to aid her sister.
In the evening, when the girls were in their beds, Uncle Valerius, T'mara and I sat together for a little chat again, and my uncle mused:
"Sometimes I wonder why none of the Great Chapels in Cyrodiil are dedicated to Kynareth. I mean, there is chapel for each of the Nine Divines, expect for Kynareth. Well, of course nowadays Talos is also missing one, since the one in Bruma was rededicated to Martin Septim to not violate the White-Gold Concordat."
"Indeed, this is strange" I nodded, "and I also do not know the reason. However, Kyne seems to like us, or more specifically T'mara, and that's good enough for me."
"Yes, about that" Uncle Valerius added. "You actually managed to get wed to a Khajiit; this is quite special. I wonder how people react to that..."
My wife looked a little bit concerned, and after quickly looking at me she meekly asked: "You do not like me?"
Uncle Valerius laughed and explained: "Rather the contrary, I do like you, really. I do not have a problem with the two of you being together at all. Seeing how much you love each other is good enough for me. I have seen much odder relations, believe me. Once I met a young man who claimed that he fell in love with a flame atronach… but I digress. No, I am just a little bit concerned about your parents, Timotheus, and their somewhat conservative views."
"Yes, I get your point, uncle" I replied. He was right, of course – my parents had always expected me to marry a respected Imperial or Nord girl from the city, at least when I had been home. Once I had moved to Skyrim, they had sometimes written to me about some girls from old and respected families in Solitude, hoping that I'd meet one of those. Well, Akatosh had had other plans for me, and though I had informed my parents about what had happened I my life, they had withheld their approval until they had a chance to meet my wife. Getting married without them attending had not gone down well, too.
Well, we would have to see how this worked out once we actually made it to Kvatch.
[Author's Notes: I try to be fair and not limit Iona to nanny duties only. She is a very capable fighter and deserves a chance to be at the front lines from time to time. For Lucia and Yumi, I will try to develop their gifts a little more; let's see how this works out.]
